The Worms are coming to get me!

Friday: today is the day of training. Because brian had nowhere for me to go he was going to take me to training. So I wake up and Connor tells me that the yare not going to the Cousins village because it is too wet. So he came along with us. We get to the training center and we immediately find out that the “training” is in Assamese and Hindi. None of which Connor and I understand. In a nut shell we learned about Hindu people turning to Christ and taking the faith of Christianity but for government and cultural purposes they are Hindu Christians. Here in India if you are a “Christian” that means you wear western cloths, usually rich, and you abandon your culture and you are really not a “Christian” in our American term. I also found out that in India they have special laws for
Muslims, Hindus and Christians. I do not know the specifics or how it works yet. I will learn it soon I hope. We took part in worship that has to do with an Hindu ceremony that they replace the meaning to work towards the bible. In a way it is sort of like communion. You have a vase that has mango leaves and a coconut on the top of it. this stands for completeness with Christ the coconut represents us for we are rough and dirty, brown and not very good looking. The base of the vase is surrounded by the strings of orange flowers that I think are marigolds. Then there are a few different types of flowers that represent how we are fragile and fade quickly. Then there is incense that represents our fragrant prayers and lives toward God. Then there is a Conch that is a trumpet for call to worship and a lamp that symbolizes Christ’s light. The coconut is taken during the ceremony and crake open to reveal the white clean inside that is represented of Christ making us clean us clean and the water from the coconut symbolizes the blood he shed for us. Towards the end of the ceremony you take the dish of sandalwood paste and you take your ring finger and dip it in the paste and make a mark on the person next to you. This symbolizes our union with Christ in each other and the bond the blood has made for us. It also lets others know that you have taken Puja (the word for Worship). With this in the center of the eyes one also looks from with in or the inner eye focusing on the spiritual aspect of life not just the material.
Saturday: today we were able to attend a class that Brian Petterson and Swami taught (in English) over reaching Hindu people without telling them to get ride of their culture. It was very enlightening. I learned so much to the point that all my past mission trips seem pointless. He told us a Hindi woman fell in love with Jesus and wanted to commit to him fully but could not because she did not want the worms to come after her. Many Christians teach that one must be buried in a coffin here and Hindu people always cremate for that is their custom. Because she was told that she would have to be buried in a coffin when she dies she would not commit to Jesus. This was so horrible. I wanna just hit that person in the face and be like “READ YOUR FREAKING BIBLE THAT IS NOT BIBLICAL” I personally want to believe that because this woman seemed to have really wanted to know Jesus maybe she accepted him in her heart and did not tell the stupid guy who wanted her to get eaten by worms. Just to kind of help get the point a long they told us another story of a Christian woman who was working in India wanted a baby really bad but had troubles. She finally had a baby after a lot of prayer and trying. When she went to the hospital the woman working asked her if she wanted an abortion. Of course the Christian woman was taken back and said no and did not question as to why she would dare ask that. So eventually she had two more children and the same woman asked her if she wanted an abortion both times and on the third time the woman asked “why do you ask if I want to abort my children” and the Woman doctor explained “all of you western women are having all of these illegitimate children. None of you are married and you just sleep around with random men” the woman did not know that American women wear rings on their finger as a symbol for marriage for in India women have a red mark on the line of their hair in the middle of the forehead to show they are married and wear the dot in the middle. Wearing a ring to symbolize marriage and wearing a red line and dot are both not biblical. I had a Civ moment. I was thinking how the Europeans went to Africa and even India and they colonized the countries, used up their resources, and stole their culture from them. I was thinking how as Christian Missionaries we are just doing the same thing. Well some. The main goal of ours has been to reach them in a culturally relative way. To not often them but share the good news and help them to use it in their lives. So why do we seem to think that people must lose their culture in order to follow God?